Pre-Classic: Olmec

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Pre-Classic: Olmec Pre-Classic: Olmec Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec The Olmec Heartland Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Earliest writing in Mesoamerica can be found here on Stela C of the Olmec city of Tres Zapotes. The glyphs give the date of 32 bce. Olmec religion based on the were-jaguar had few rivals in being bizarre. Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Cl Pre-Classic: Olmec The Major Olmec Site Was La Venta Plan of LaVenta Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Cl Pre-Classic: Olmec Ceremonial Zone Pyramid of LaVenta Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec This tomb, made of carved basalt columns, was constructed in a cavity carved into an existing mound. Inside were two coffins of two youths and jadeite and hematite sculptures. Plan of LaVenta Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Jaguar Mask Floor Mosaic Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Jaguar Mask Floor Mosaic Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Jaguar Floor Mask Mosaic Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Jaguar Floor Mask Mosaic Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Artist’s Reconstruction of Building the Floor Mask Jaguar Floor Mask Mosaic Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Offering #4 Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec In this grouping of 16 figures, 13 are of serpentine, 2 of Jade, and 1 of red sandstone. They stand before 6 jade celts. Offering #4 Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Colossal Head Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Colossal Head Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Colossal Head Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Artist’s Reconstruction of Olmecs Transporting Monumental Sculptures Colossal Head Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Jade Celt Representing a Human Figure Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Also Known as the Kunz Ax Jade Celt Representing a Human Figure Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Jade Celt Representing a Human Figure Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Jade Celt Representing a Human Figure Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Plaque with Olmec Relief Jade Celt Representing a Human Figure Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Jade Figurine of a Baby Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Olmec Jade Figurine Jade Figurine of a Baby Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Olmec Baby-Faced Figures Jade Figurine Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec White-Slipped Hollow Figurine (Found at Tlatilco) Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Seated Woman from Tlatilco White-Slipped Hollow Figurine (Found at Tlatilco) Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec White-Slipped Hollow Figurine (Found at Tlatilco) Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Brooding Male Figure Carrying Symbolic Were-Jaguar (Lord of Las Limas) Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Brooding Male Fig. Male Figure w/ Were-Jaguar Baby w/Were-Jaguar Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Azuzul “Acropolis” Figures Brooding Male Fig. Monument 52 at w/Were-Jaguar San Lorenzo Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec The Wrestler Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec The Wrestler Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Chalcatzingo Relief Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Views of the Chalcatzingo Site Chalcatzingo Relief Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec El Rey Chalcatzingo Relief Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Three Jaguars Monument 9 Chalcatzingo Relief Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec LaVenta Altar 5: Men Holding Were-Jaguar Babies Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec The Warrior (?) LaVenta Altar 5: Men Holding Ambassador(?) Were-Jaguar Babies Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec LaVenta Altar 5: Men Holding Were-Jaguar Babies Stela 19 Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Altar 4 LaVenta Altar 5: Men Holding Were-Jaguar Babies Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Altar 5 Altar 5 Detail LaVenta Altar 5: Men Holding Were-Jaguar Babies Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Olmec Jade Mask Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Olmec Jade Mask Monday, September 17, 12 Pre-Classic: Olmec Monday, September 17, 12.
Recommended publications
  • An Analysis of the Collection Histories of Fake Zapotec Urns at the National Museum of the American Indian
    An Analysis of the Collection Histories of Fake Zapotec Urns at The National Museum of the American Indian By Annette Neubert B.A. in Anthropology, May 2009, George Mason University A Thesis Submitted to The Faculty of Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of the George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts January 31, 2012 Thesis Directed by Jeffrey P. Blomster Associate Professor of Anthropology Acknowledgements I would first like to thank my friends and family for every single “You can do it!” during the countless conversations concerning my thesis. Most especially to my husband and daughter for their patience, support, and encouragement throughout this project. To Dr. Jeffrey Blomster, there are not enough “thank you’s” possible to express my gratitude for your patience, support, and guidance over the past year. Very special thanks must be given to Dr. Catherine Allen for acting as second reader on this thesis. To Dr. Alexander Benitez, who first encouraged me to study the National Museum of the American Indian’s Zapotec urns, that is truly when this research began. I must also acknowledge Dr. Adam T. Sellen, it is due to his insights regarding Zapotec urns that I had objects to study. I thank Dr. Jane Walsh of the Smithsonian Institution for her comments on an earlier draft of this thesis. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Susan Haskell at Harvard’s Peabody Museum for providing valuable information regarding one of the Peabody’s Zapotec urns. And finally, to the archives and collections staff at the National Museum of the American Indian, for granting me access to the collections and archival documents, and especially for answering random questions from a confused graduate student.
    [Show full text]
  • The Olmec Pictures of Record, Inc., 1979
    The Olmec Pictures of Record, Inc., 1979. The name Olmec means “dweller in the Land of Rubber” and refers to a group of people who, between about 1500 BC and 100 AD, lived on the Gulf Coast of Mexico in the southern part of Veracruz and the western part of Tabasco. Characteristic Olmec traits include the building of clay pyramids and temple mounds, a sculptural style which features a weeping or snarling jaguar/human infant, or were-jaguar, colossal heads and other basalt monuments, and extremely fine jade carving. Because artifacts having distinctive Olmec characteristics are found in early pre-Classic horizons throughout much of Mesoamerica, some archaeologists believe the Olmec civilization to be the source of all Mesoamerican civilization. More recent investigations, however, suggest parallel developments in much of Mesoamerica. The central Olmec area lay on the Gulf Coast lowland between the Rio Blanco and the Rio Tonala. The sites so far discovered are nearly always located on rivers, or on a river island in the case of La Venta. Based on slash and burn agriculture, the great Olmec sites of San Lorenzo, La Venta, Tres Zapotes, and Cerro de Las Mesas seem to have been ceremonial centers rather than urban ones. San Lorenzo, the oldest Olmec site, was occupied by 1500 BC. Pottery is found from the earliest period, but the monumental stone sculptures for which the Olmecs are known were not made until around 1250 BC. For a period of some 250 or more years, the massive heads and other monuments were carved from basalt which was floated on huge rafts and then dragged from the Tuxtla Mountains.
    [Show full text]
  • Topics: the Olmecs and Their Neighbors
    Anthropology 3891/6804, Section 80 The Olmecs & their Neighbors: America’s First Civilization Fall 2012, Thur, 3:45-6:15 pm HAH, Rm. 202 Instructor: Dr. Jeffrey Blomster Office: 303 HAH (2110 G St.), Telephone: 994-4880 Office Hours: Tuesday, 3:30 – 5:30, or by appointment. E-mail: [email protected] General Course Description: The emergence of early complex societies remains a focal point of anthropological research throughout the world. In this class, we shall utilize the Olmec – sometimes referred to as “America’s First Civilization” – to explore in depth the emergence of a specific society and the nature, and impact, of its interregional interaction with contemporaneous societies throughout ancient Mexico. Few ancient societies have attracted the kind of rampant speculation as the Olmec; when Olmec colossal heads are not regularly appearing on popular television shows (the Simpsons), they are cited as proof of ancient African presence in the New World. Stripped of much of the mystification bestowed upon them by the popular press, the Olmec achievement is even more fascinating; they emerge as the creators of a complex society with monumental art, architecture and iconography that still remains poorly understood. Due to their importance in understanding complex society in the New World, the Olmec are situated at the nexus of a series of anthropological debates. In this class, we will focus on issues that have a larger resonance in both archaeology and anthropology, for the following learning outcomes: • models for the origins of complex society • the Olmec level of complexity, settlement pattern, hierarchy and nature of their urban centers • the role of art and ideology in society • Olmec impact on/relations with other regions of Mesoamerica • the creation and destruction of art • acquisition and long-distance exchange • sacred landscapes and iconography • the Olmec legacy in Mesoamerica.
    [Show full text]
  • Possible Proseminar Readings Taken from Anth
    Anthropology 3891/6804, Section 80 The Olmecs & their Neighbors: America’s First Civilization Fall 2016, Thur, 2:30-5:00 pm HAH, Rm. 202 Instructor: Dr. Jeffrey Blomster Office: 303 HAH (2110 G St.), Telephone: 994-4880 Office Hours: Thursday, 11:00 – 1:00, or by appointment. E-mail: [email protected] General Course Description: The emergence of early complex societies remains a focal point of anthropological research throughout the world. In this class, we shall utilize the Olmec – sometimes referred to as “America’s First Civilization” – to explore in depth the emergence of a specific society and the nature, and impact, of its interregional interaction with contemporaneous societies throughout ancient Mexico. Few ancient societies have attracted the kind of rampant speculation as the Olmec; when Olmec colossal heads are not regularly appearing on popular television shows (the Simpsons), they are cited as proof of ancient African presence in the New World. Stripped of much of the mystification bestowed upon them by the popular press, the Olmec achievement is even more fascinating; they emerge as the creators of a complex society with monumental art, architecture and iconography that still remains poorly understood. Due to their importance in understanding complex society in the New World, the Olmec are situated at the nexus of a series of anthropological debates. In this class, we will focus on issues that have a larger resonance in both archaeology and anthropology, for the following learning outcomes: • models for the origins of complex society • the Olmec level of complexity, settlement pattern, hierarchy and nature of their urban centers • the role of art and ideology in society • Olmec impact on/relations with other regions of Mesoamerica • the creation and destruction of art • acquisition and long-distance exchange • sacred landscapes and iconography • the Olmec legacy in Mesoamerica.
    [Show full text]
  • Olmec Art at Dumbarton Oaks
    Pre-Columbian Art at Dumbarton Oaks, No. 2 OLMEC ART AT DUMBARTON OAKS OLMEC ART AT DUMBARTON OAKS Karl A. Taube Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Washington, D.C. Copyright © 2004 by Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, D.C. Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication Data to come To the memory of Carol Callaway, Alba Guadalupe Mastache, Linda Schele, and my sister, Marianna Taube—four who fought the good fight CONTENTS PREFACE Jeffrey Quilter ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi List of Plates xii List of Figures xiii Chronological Chart of Mesoamerica xv Maps xvi INTRODUCTION: THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF OLMEC RESEARCH 1 THE DUMBARTON OAKS COLLECTION 49 BIBLIOGRAPHY 185 APPENDIX 203 INDEX 221 Preface lmec art held a special place in the heart of Robert Woods Bliss, who built the collection now housed at Dumbarton Oaks and who, with his wife, Mildred, conveyed the gar- Odens, grounds, buildings, library, and collections to Harvard University. The first object he purchased, in 1912, was an Olmec statuette (Pl. 8); he commonly carried a carved jade in his pocket; and, during his final illness, it was an Olmec mask (Pl. 30) that he asked to be hung on the wall of his sick room. It is easy to understand Bliss’s predilection for Olmec art. With his strong preference for metals and polished stone, the Olmec jades were particularly appealing to him. Although the finest Olmec ceramics are masterpieces in their own right, he preferred to concen- trate his collecting on jades. As Karl Taube discusses in detail in this volume of Pre-Columbian Art at Dumbarton Oaks, Olmec jades are the most beautiful stones worked in Mesoamerica.
    [Show full text]
  • Mesoamerican Art
    1 Mesoamerican Art PreClassic Classic Post-Classic 2000 BCE 200 CE 900 1520 ________________________________________________________________________ OLMEC---------------------- MAYA--------------------- AZTEC-- TEOTIHUACAN- TOLTEC----- Four of the numerous great Mesoamerican cultures, and what they're best known as: • Olmec the "Mother Culture" • Maya overall high achievers • Toltec builders and organizers who subdued and influenced the Maya • Aztecs warriors ...and a cosmopolitan city: Teotihuacan Two general comments: • Mesoamerican art is almost exclusively religious or mortuary. • Unlike African art, much of which reflects a mid-point between naturalism and abstraction, in Mesoamerican art, both extremes—very naturalistic pieces and very abstract pieces—are being done simultaneously, while other pieces reveal a combination of the two. Preclassic Period: The OLMEC Considered the "Mother Culture" of Mesoamerica, the Olmecs' religion, political structure, architecture, and art profoundly influenced all the cultures that followed. They had developed both writing and an accurate calendar by about 600 BCE. Most of the population was made up of farmers, who lived in villages in the swampy jungles near the Gulf of Mexico, and their labors supported a hereditary caste of rulers and priests, who lived at the religious and civic centers of San Lorenzo and La Venta. The entire population gathered regularly at these cities for religious rituals. La Venta was an "early form of the temple-pyramid, plaza-courtyard complex (G, 504) that will characterize Mesoamerican urban planning. The pyramid is 100' high, and rituals performed in a temple located at the top would have been visible to the throngs gathered in the plaza below. The entire complex is oriented with a north-south axis.
    [Show full text]
  • National Gallery of Art
    National Gallery of Art FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Deborah Ziska April 16, 1996 (202) 842-6353 For images: Lila Kirkland (202) 842-6360 NATIONAL GALLERY REVEALS THE EXTRAORDINARY WONDERS OF MEXICO'8 EARLIEST CIVILIZATION IN FIRST COMPREHENSIVE SHOW OF OLMEC ART JUNE 30 - OCTOBER 20. 1996 WASHINGTON, D.C. The first comprehensive exhibition of Olmec art will provide a panoramic view of the artistic achievements of Mexico's earliest and least-known civilization, at the National Gallery of Art, June 30 through October 20, 1996. The 122 objects in the show were created in Mexico and Central America three thousand years ago, long before the great civilizations of the Maya, Teotihuacan, and Aztec. Among the works of art will be a thirteen-ton colossal head from San Lorenzo, which will leave Mexico for the first time. Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico also represents a groundbreaking collaboration between Mexican and U.S. scholars to bring a major exhibition of Pre-Columbian art to the United States. The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art in collaboration with the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, through its Institute Nacional de Antropologia e Historia. The exhibition is made possible by The Fund for the International -more- Fourth Street at Constitution Avenue, IM.W., Washington, D.C. 20565 olmec exhibition . page 2 Exchange of Art and generous support from Goldman, Sachs & Co., as well as other corporations. It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. "The government of Mexico's unprecedented commitment to lend many of its finest Olmec objects guarantees that this exhibition will be one of the most exciting Pre-Columbian shows ever presented," said Earl A.
    [Show full text]